Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. The financial institution has an engagement policy where it describes its approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees and it discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member including sustainability- and non-sustainability-related organisations. Banco do Brasil publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment and it discloses a target to reach 26% of women in leadership positions by 2023.

Banco do Brasil discloses that its climate solutions are defined according to an internationally adopted framework. The financial institution is committed to minimising its negative impacts on nature and biodiversity.

Banco do Brasil has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and a statement that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. The financial institution discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group, race and gender.  The financial institution discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. Banco do Brasil has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers to raise human rights complaints or concerns.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, Banco do Brasil assigns decision making and oversight responsibility for sustainability to the board of officers and not the board of directors. The bank could link the remuneration of its executive and management team to sustainability performance criteria. The bank could reach at least 40% female representation in the board of directors and senior leadership positions. It has an opportunity to discloses the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. There is no evidence that the financial institution’s engagement policy includes clear frameworks with success criteria and escalation points and it could publish engagement report detailing how the policy is applied.

Banco do Brasil has an opportunity to disclose a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. Although the financial institution discloses the aggregate amount of finance it devotes to climate solutions, it has an opportunity to disclose what the climate solutions are. No evidence was found regarding the financial institution’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels, or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects.

Banco do Brasil has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. Additionally, there is no evidence that the financial institution has one or more channels/mechanisms, or participates in a shared mechanism, accessible to all external individuals and communities who may be adversely impacted by the financial institution to raise human rights complaints or concerns. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards, for example, women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries.